Today we travelled to Bromsgrove and face a side that only lost twice in the league last season, winning 15 out of 18 games, so we knew this would be another tough one.
As we weren’t sure what the opposition would be like, we decided to approach with some caution and try to keep it tight in the first half. From the get go, you could see that Bromsgrove like to hold on to the ball, playing it around without much progression but then utilising the wingers who hugged the touchline all game. A couple of half chances for Bromsgrove but nothing to trouble Harrison who showed very assured handling as usual. Rushy was being his usual handful on the left hand side and would soon be causing real problems for Bromsgrove when he realised he had the beating of the full back for pace. Bromsgrove tried to get a bit more physical with this to stop Rushy, but that kind of pace is so hard to deal with it was going to come eventually, and it did. Rushy bursting down the left from Charlie’s pass, cutting and and slotting past the keeper. Trademark goal, 0-1.
Bromsgrove were not rolling over and were in the fight, again driving down their left hand side where the winger hit a nice shot that Harrison tipped over the bar. All quite scrappy for the remainder of the half, with one last chance to note where the left winger again driving down the wing, but a little nudge from Kielan got him off balance and the chance was cleared. HT 0-1 Hampton.
The second half we wanted to frustrate again, holding off the pace players so that we could end the game with some legs as it looked hard work out there. Tackles were flying in on both sides but I did think Bromsgrove were let off the hook a few times when blocking runners, pulling players back and jumping in to tackles, so it was difficult to accept when Harry was booked for a trip. Yes, it was a foul and probably a booking, but Bromsgrove had done the same tackles a few times with no caution so I found that a bit unfair.
With Rushy, Fin, Omar back on, Bromsgrove had something to think about again but it was them that would get the next goal, a real scrap in the box that was eventually rifled into the roof of the net despite Harrison’s best efforts. 1-1. “Now let’s get the winner” their vocal coach was shouting.
Rushy had other ideas though, hitting back quickly when he drove through the middle and slotted past the keeper. 1-2 Hampton!
Not long left now, so just need to see the game out really and we were doing that nicely. Hampton have a throw and the ref tells me 30 Seconds to go, which Bailee did well to wind the clock down some more and then Bromsgrove becoming frustrated and giving a silly foul, time elapsed and Hampton had a free kick on halfway.
Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to get the ball into the corner to see the game finish, and a huge hump forward released the Bromsgrove player who kept his composure and slotted into the far corner. 2-2.
I’m told he was offside, but in the moment I wasn’t looking and had no argument.
2-2 possibly a fair result, but difficult to swallow when there’s no time on the clock and we just need to wallop it out! Harsh lesson learned but we’re always learning so will take it and work on it.
Some great effort across the pitch as usual, with Josh M, Oscar, JP doing really well and Rushy notching another 2 goals to add to his tally for the season. MOTM this week goes to Kielan, who huffed and puffed all game, chasing down everything and clearing lines, a super effort from him.
Next week we go back to KESH in a repeat of last weeks fixture, only this time it’s in the league.
UTR
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